Dreamcade Offers Gamers a Tatse of Nostalgia

This is the American dream at work here folks.

In the year 2002, Michelle Ware asked for a tabletop Pac-Man arcade game for Christmas, just like the ones she and every other kid growing up in the Reagan-era played while frequenting their local arcade or Taco Tico. Unable to acquire one, her husband Michael built one himself by downloading the software from the publisher and then installing the PC that drives the game into an assembled tabletop cabinet he made himself. Handy husband there Michelle, maybe he should give lessons - many a gamer gal would thank him for it. Anyway, the word got out that there was a man who could build you your very own retro-arcade machine out of his garage - thus the dawning of a new business venture for the husband and wife team began. Dream Arcades was born, and continues to grow.

According to Michael, after he and his wife were laid off from Intel and Krispy Kreme (respectively) they decided that the way to beat the corporate game was to start their own company where they could never be laid off again. Dream Arcades manufactures and sells upright and tabletop arcade games called “Dreamcades” with titles like Asteroids, Centipede, Gauntlet, Pac-Man, Rampage, Tempest and Warlords. Each Dreamcade includes over 100 games, like Centipede and Dragon’s Lair and because it is PC based you can add additional game packs. Think of them as “like an iPod for video games. Instead of adding MP3 music files to your iPod you add ROM game files to your Dream Arcades machine”.

Michael and Michelle have come a long way from their garage based home business, and now they have their very own factory and assembly line workers in Folsom, CA; thus making them the largest PC arcade and kit distributor in the world, with customers as far away as Antarctica.

For the full interview with Michael and Michelle, head on over to the Monterery Herald website or visit the couple’s Dream Arcade site. Best of luck and continued success to both of them.